I'm leavin' my fam'ly
Leavin' all my friends.
My body's at home
But my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
On a new front page sky
My tears are salt water
And the moon's full and high.
And I know Martin Eden's
Gonna be proud of me
And many before me
Who've been called by the sea
To be up in the crow's nest
Singin' my say.
Shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away.
And the fog's liftin'
And the sand's shiftin'
I'm driftin' on out.
Ol' Captain Ahab
He ain't got nothin' on me, now.
So swallow me, don't follow me
I'm trav'lin' alone.
Blue water's my daughter
'n I'm gonna skip like a stone.
So please call my missus
Gotta tell her not to cry
'Cause my goodbye is written
By the moon in the sky.
Hey and nobody knows me
I can't fathom my stayin'.
Shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away.
And the fog's liftin'
And the sand's shiftin'
I'm driftin' on out.
Ol' Captain Ahab
He ain't got nothin' on me.
So come and swallow me, follow me
I'm trav'lin' alone.
Blue water's my daughter
'n I'm gonna skip like a stone.
And I'm leavin' my family
Leavin' all my friends.
My body's at home
But my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
Upon a new front page sky
And shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away.
Friday, February 29, 2008
You'll Never Get Away
I'll follow you down 'till the sound of my voice will haunt you.
You'll never get away from the sound of the woman who loves you.
I'll follow you down 'till the sound of my voice will haunt you.
You'll never get away from the sound of the woman who loves you.
You'll never get away from the sound of the woman who loves you.
I'll follow you down 'till the sound of my voice will haunt you.
You'll never get away from the sound of the woman who loves you.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Almost Makes Me Want To Be Vegetarian
The man behind giant beef recall says the meatpacker’s violations were blatant
By STEVE CHAWKINS and VICTORIA KIM
Los Angeles Times
To protect his identity and to frustrate possible retaliation, the undercover investigator behind the biggest beef recall in U.S. history refuses to disclose his name.
Nor will he reveal his marital status, his hometown, his job background or even his age.
One of the few personal things he will reveal is his that he’s a vegan.
But in a phone interview this week, the investigator for the Humane Society of the United States sketched a bleak account of his six weeks at a Chino, Calif., slaughterhouse that supplied meat to school-lunch programs and supermarkets throughout the nation.
The investigator said that by day he helped drive cattle into a chute that led to the killing floor. But at the same time he used a hidden camera to film the alleged brutalization of animals too weak or sick to walk to slaughter. Under federal regulations, only animals that are able to walk on their own can be used for meat.
At night, the agent returned to an Ontario, Calif., motel to chronicle his findings in a notebook and lock his videotapes in a closet safe.
“It was so blatant, so commonplace,” he said, speaking from a location he wouldn’t reveal. “It was so in your face. … They were pushing animals we felt never should have qualified for human consumption.”
The video produced by the undercover operation led the San Bernardino district attorney to charge two workers at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. It also prompted the U.S. Agriculture Department to recall 143 million pounds of beef. Department officials said they thought most of the meat had been consumed and said the risk to the public is minimal.
The plant is now shuttered. Company officials could not be reached for comment Monday.
The investigator said he was on an unrelated mission — one he would not disclose — when he first stopped by the Chino plant. He said that until then, he didn’t realize that most of the animals slaughtered at Hallmark/Westland were dairy cattle. He said many were weak and emaciated when they were trucked in.
The investigator said he gave his real name and Social Security number, and had no trouble getting the job. At $8 an hour for 12-hour days of grueling labor, turnover was so high, managers seemed happy to have anyone who would not quit the next day, he said.
He worked from sunup till sundown, driving cattle down a long, narrow chute to the slaughterhouse. At the end of the day, he would spend about an hour shoveling manure and cleaning up.
During short lunch breaks in his car, he ate soy burgers and fake deli meat in an attempt to appear like other employees.
On his first day, he started getting glimpses of illegal actions that he said were routine. When a cow collapsed on its way to the slaughter box, two workers immediately jumped into the chute. One grabbed the cow by its tail and the other began shocking it with electrical prods, he said. When that failed, workers killed the cow on the spot, hooked a chain around the animal’s neck and dragged it into the slaughter box on its knees.
“Downer” cattle that cannot walk have a higher occurrence of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and are supposed to be euthanized on the spot and removed immediately. According to the American Meat Institute, an industry trade group, some “nonambulatory” cattle at packing plants are simply injured and not necessarily ill.
As the investigator toiled in 100-degree heat, he documented the actions through a pinhole camera that he wore under his shirt and controlled with a switch in his pocket. He had only one hour of recording capability each day.
He saw weaker animals being prodded upright or having water shot into their nostrils before shakily walking to slaughter. Some downed cows were hauled with chains.
Government officials charged with inspecting the process were never present to witness such actions, he said.
“There just wasn’t that level of oversight,” he said. “As cows are making their final steps, there’s no USDA personnel objecting to this behavior.”
The American Meat Institute this week warned against making generalizations based on Hallmark/Westland, saying that practices depicted in the investigator’s videotapes “stand in sharp contrast” to those of a typical packer.
By STEVE CHAWKINS and VICTORIA KIM
Los Angeles Times
To protect his identity and to frustrate possible retaliation, the undercover investigator behind the biggest beef recall in U.S. history refuses to disclose his name.
Nor will he reveal his marital status, his hometown, his job background or even his age.
One of the few personal things he will reveal is his that he’s a vegan.
But in a phone interview this week, the investigator for the Humane Society of the United States sketched a bleak account of his six weeks at a Chino, Calif., slaughterhouse that supplied meat to school-lunch programs and supermarkets throughout the nation.
The investigator said that by day he helped drive cattle into a chute that led to the killing floor. But at the same time he used a hidden camera to film the alleged brutalization of animals too weak or sick to walk to slaughter. Under federal regulations, only animals that are able to walk on their own can be used for meat.
At night, the agent returned to an Ontario, Calif., motel to chronicle his findings in a notebook and lock his videotapes in a closet safe.
“It was so blatant, so commonplace,” he said, speaking from a location he wouldn’t reveal. “It was so in your face. … They were pushing animals we felt never should have qualified for human consumption.”
The video produced by the undercover operation led the San Bernardino district attorney to charge two workers at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. It also prompted the U.S. Agriculture Department to recall 143 million pounds of beef. Department officials said they thought most of the meat had been consumed and said the risk to the public is minimal.
The plant is now shuttered. Company officials could not be reached for comment Monday.
The investigator said he was on an unrelated mission — one he would not disclose — when he first stopped by the Chino plant. He said that until then, he didn’t realize that most of the animals slaughtered at Hallmark/Westland were dairy cattle. He said many were weak and emaciated when they were trucked in.
The investigator said he gave his real name and Social Security number, and had no trouble getting the job. At $8 an hour for 12-hour days of grueling labor, turnover was so high, managers seemed happy to have anyone who would not quit the next day, he said.
He worked from sunup till sundown, driving cattle down a long, narrow chute to the slaughterhouse. At the end of the day, he would spend about an hour shoveling manure and cleaning up.
During short lunch breaks in his car, he ate soy burgers and fake deli meat in an attempt to appear like other employees.
On his first day, he started getting glimpses of illegal actions that he said were routine. When a cow collapsed on its way to the slaughter box, two workers immediately jumped into the chute. One grabbed the cow by its tail and the other began shocking it with electrical prods, he said. When that failed, workers killed the cow on the spot, hooked a chain around the animal’s neck and dragged it into the slaughter box on its knees.
“Downer” cattle that cannot walk have a higher occurrence of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and are supposed to be euthanized on the spot and removed immediately. According to the American Meat Institute, an industry trade group, some “nonambulatory” cattle at packing plants are simply injured and not necessarily ill.
As the investigator toiled in 100-degree heat, he documented the actions through a pinhole camera that he wore under his shirt and controlled with a switch in his pocket. He had only one hour of recording capability each day.
He saw weaker animals being prodded upright or having water shot into their nostrils before shakily walking to slaughter. Some downed cows were hauled with chains.
Government officials charged with inspecting the process were never present to witness such actions, he said.
“There just wasn’t that level of oversight,” he said. “As cows are making their final steps, there’s no USDA personnel objecting to this behavior.”
The American Meat Institute this week warned against making generalizations based on Hallmark/Westland, saying that practices depicted in the investigator’s videotapes “stand in sharp contrast” to those of a typical packer.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Promo
I'm embarrassed to admit that I get all tingly-excited when I start to thing about Season 4.
Monday, February 11, 2008
A Moment of Zen
My current state of SAD prevents me from caring enough about anything to formulate thoughts to write them down. I have mental enthusiasms, but they die before I speak them to more than one person. I was going to write about how I achieved a moment of Zen on Friday night. I slid on some ice, my feet shot out from under me, and I went down. I caught myself with my left hand and sprung right back up, like I had just done the most awesome break dance move EVER. I didn’t sustain any injuries whatsoever. My feet slid like a baseball player slides into base, smooth and cool, the best way to fall without really falling. But during that brief moment when my brain realized I was falling and had no control whatsoever over what was to inevitably happen next, time went in slow motion. It’s a realization and intense oh-shit-fear that sets in moments before impact; I’ve experienced similar moments in car accidents. I thought about how some people seek these moments out for fun – roller coasters, parachuting, cliff climbing. They’re all crazy. I seek out safety in knowing that I can pretty much control everything that’s happening to me. However, in that moment of Zen I felt like maybe we THINK that we have control over things that happen to us, when in fact we don’t have much control at all.
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